CITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON RENT WITH CONFIDENCE WEBSITE LAUNCHED
City of Wolverhampton Council’s new five-star rating system to improve the quality of housing in the city is now live – and if you’re a tenant looking to rent a private sector property you should head to www.rentwithconfidence.org.uk as your first port of call.
‘Rent with Confidence’ is aiming to encourage greater customer choice and raise living standards.
It functions in a similar way to the rating scheme used by the Food Standards Agency for restaurants and takeaways.
Stars are awarded to landlords who comply with the law and who rent out property above the minimum statutory standards, with financial incentives for five-star landlords.
Overall, the scheme will see improved health and well-being of residents, along with better property and housing management standards, and longer term stability in neighbourhoods. The scheme will improve the private rented offer and support the economic regeneration of the city.
For background on this initiative visit the City of Wolverhampton website.
IMPACT PATHWAYS WEST MIDLANDS
Impact Pathways is a ‘map’ of provision designed to help people who live and work in the West Midlands access support they might need.
It allows the public and professionals to search in their area for the resource, knowledge and expertise of statutory agencies such as the NHS, private companies, together with a whole range of charities and community groups who exist to offer services to support people.
The agencies are arranged by ‘pathways’ and postcode. The ‘pathways’ are based on a history of working to support people out of offending, but recognise that the type of support offered – with alcohol issues, housing problems, to find a job and so on – are useful to a much broader range of people than those involved in crime. Because of this these services are offered on a broader platform, particularly one where it’s possible for people to access support without necessarily going via a GP, the Council or the Police.
The nine pathways are:
- Drugs
- Alcohol
- Accommodation
- Children and families
- Finance, benefit and debt
- Mental and physical health
- Attitudes, thinking and behaviour
- Education, training and employment
- Women – domestic abuse and sex work
If you are looking to access support for yourself or someone else please browse the site. You can search by postcode, problem, and get the information back as a list of providers who will work with you or on a map. The agencies on this site contain information about how to access their services and often this is FREE, confidential and may even be a walk-in service.
Working in partnership with Impact Pathways West Midlands helps assist in the overall aim of helping people to access support to improve their lives. Being linked to Impact Pathways West Midlands can also help your individual organisation in the following ways:
- Increasing awareness of the services you offer.
- Increased opportunities for successful funding bids.
- Increased opportunity to access new funding streams and ways of working.
- Gain support and advice of specialist workers on aligned sectors.
- Increased information sharing where appropriate.
If you are interested in signing up your agency for IPWM please use the enquiry form.
IMMIGRATION ACT 2016 ROLLED OUT ACROSS ENGLAND FROM DECEMBER 2016
In February, Right to Rent went live across England. This requires all private landlords, including anyone subletting or taking in lodgers, to carry out quick and simple checks on all new tenants.
We announced in May that the Immigration Act 2016 had been given Royal Assent and would come into force in the months ahead. This Act contains two further provisions relevant to the private rented sector. These provisions:
- Make it easier for private landlords to evict illegal migrant tenants.
- Create new criminal offences for rogue landlords and agents who repeatedly fail to carry out right to rent checks or fail to take steps to remove illegal migrants from their property.
The Home Secretary announced on 4 October that these provisions will be brought into force across England from December 2016. These measures demonstrate the Government’s commitment to clamp down on illegal immigration, and determination to take the necessary steps to protect public services and access to the private rented sector for our lawful residents.
We will continue to work closely with the private rented sector in the lead up to the measures in the Act being implemented and will provide further updates and communications material as the work progresses.
Further details of these measures can be found on GOV.UK.
